From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

SPEED CHANNEL TO BROADCAST 10 HOURS OF RACING FROM BIKE WEEK 2003

PICKERINGTON, Ohio – Motorcycle racing fans will enjoy a veritable smorgasbord of racing from Bike Week 2003 on SPEED Channel. SPEED Channel will broadcast a total of 10 hours of race programming from Bike Week — from AMA Supercross to AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track and everything in between. Highlighting this year’s coverage will be the live broadcast on March 9, of the 62nd annual running of the Daytona 200 by Arai, the opening round of the 2003 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship.

Bike Week coverage kicks off on Friday, March 7, at 2 p.m. Eastern with the 16th running of the Daytona AMA Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock race. Defending champion Jimmy Moore, of Eugene, Ore., will be gunning to become only the second rider in history to win back-to-back Daytona Superstock races.

SPEED Channel’s Bike Week coverage continues right after the Superstock race with Daytona on-air personalities Brian Drebber, David Sadowski, Ralph Sheheen and Greg White. The hour-long, live pre-race show will lead right into one of the most highly anticipated races of Bike Week, the 17th Annual AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport final, live at 4 p.m. Eastern. A deep and talented field of riders will strive to give their respective manufacturers a victory in this race that is considered enormously influential on the season’s sportbike sales. Suzuki’s Aaron Yates is the defending winner, but he will face completely newly designed factory racing machines from Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha all intending to dethrone the reigning champ.

On Saturday, March 8, the action shifts from the paved high banks to the sandy triple jumps of the 33rd Daytona Supercross by Honda. Honda’s own Ricky Carmichael is looking to tie the record four-straight Daytona Supercross races won by Motorcycle Hall of Famer Jeff Stanton. Both the AMA 125 East Region race and the AMA 250 Supercross final will be shown in primetime starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, Saturday evening in a two-hour show.

Grab an industrial-sized bag of tortilla chips and plenty of salsa and get ready for a daylong celebration of speed on Sunday, March 9. Showtime begins at 10 a.m. Eastern with live coverage of the AMA MBNA 250 Grand Prix season opener. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the race that used to be called the International Lightweight 100. All-time AMA MBNA 250 Grand Prix wins leader Rich Oliver is hoping to win his sixth 250 Grand Prix at Daytona. Next up is the BMW BoxerCup live at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. A number of international and American riders will race on equally prepared BMW R1100RS machines. This will be the only U.S. running of this international series.

Attention then turns to the granddaddy of Bike Week events, the Daytona 200 by Arai. The pre-race show begins at 12:30 p.m. Eastern and the live, flag-to-flag coverage of the 200 starts at 1 p.m. The potential headlines for the March Classic are almost too numerous to mention. Honda’s Miguel Duhamel is seeking his fourth win; Mat Mladin tries for his third after missing last year’s race; Eric Bostrom is set to battle his big brother Ben, who returns from World Superbike; Kurtis Roberts hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps to become the only the second father and son combo to win the prestigious race; and Ducati pins its hopes of winning its first Daytona 200 on Anthony Gobert and Larry Pegram.

Flat track fans aren’t going to be left out. The season opener of the AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championship will be broadcast on March 11 at 10:20 p.m. Eastern and repeated early at 3:20 a.m. on March 12. Chris Carr begins his title defense at Daytona Beach’s Municipal Stadium. The short track race is easily the most unpredictable race of Bike Week and perhaps in the entire AMA U.S. Flat Track Championship.

Motorcycle Hall of Famer Dave Despain will head up a veteran broadcast team that not only includes Drebber, Sheheen, Sadowski and White, but also multi-time AMA champion Rick Johnson, who will be featured in the AMA Supercross race, and Motorcycle Hall of Famer Larry Maiers, who will be working the AMA Flat Track race.